The Great American Mystery
by sdrtyu2311
Summary: After the ARC team watches a video on YouTube that apparently shows a prehistoric-looking creature in Colorado, the team travels to Colorado to investigate. However, once they arrive, they begin to notice that this mission appears to be subtly different from any of their previous missions. The team is eventually plunged into a bizarre mystery, while being stalked by the creatures.
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

Marc and Emily stood in front of the cave, looking inside. Then they wandered inside. When they looked up at the walls, they were stunned. The walls of the cave were literally covered with gold. They grinned and quickly got out their mining tools.

"We've hit the jackpot!" Marc said. He took his hammer out of his pocket, and began pounding away at one of the walls.

"I'll go get some more tools", Emily said, and walked out of the cave.

Marc and Emily were 19 years old, and they were currently dating. Marc's father was very rich, and had left his family with a substantial sum of money after he had died of cancer two years earlier. Marc and his girlfriend were both very greedy and selfish, and were always craving more wealth. After his father died, Marc had even used a legal loophole to deny his mother the part of the money which she should have inherited, and took it all for himself. The two teenagers had worked together at a fast-food restaurant, before being kicked out due to reckless and irresponsible behavior. Now that they no longer had a means to make money, they decided to travel to a wildlife preserve in southern Colorado to mine for gold. They would probably end up damaging the fragile ecosystem, but they didn't give a damn. All they cared about was getting rich.

Emily got some tools from the truck, and returned to the cave. She couldn't find Marc anywhere. She looked down at the ground, and saw a trail of blood. She began to follow it. When she finally reached the end, she screamed. Her boyfriend was laying on the floor, dead. His body had been ripped open, and his intestines were hanging out of his abdomen.

She slowly began to back away. She felt a strange sensation, as if she wasn't alone. She turned around, and saw it.

It was just standing behind her, motionless. Its large eyes stared at her. She wondered how the creature could have possibly sneaked up beside her without her noticing. At first, she was so shocked that she forgot to defend herself. Then she reached down to the ground, and reached for a shovel. But she was so panicked that she couldn't even pick it up.

Then the creature lunged forward to devour her. Its jaws opened, revealing a set of sharp, serrated teeth. Then the jaws clamped down on her neck.


	2. Chapter 1 – The ARC

**Chapter 1: The ARC**

Oliver Leek looked down at his desk. He was reading through a pile of documents which had been sent to him by Helen Cutter. The documents contained information on how to properly house, feed, and take care of the creatures. There was a file on virtually every species which the ARC had encountered up until that point, from the Giant Worms of the Precambrian to the bat-like Future Predators and the aquatic primate-like Mer creatures from the Future. The creatures were all very diverse, but they all shared one thing in common; they had all travelled to the present-day through the anomalies. None of them were native to the present. They were all creatures from distant times who had accidentally wandered into our time, and therefore, there were no laws or regulations which applied to them. Leek could do whatever he wanted with them.

Leek looked out of his office, peering outside into the ARC. The entire team was gathered around Connor's laptop computer, staring intently at the screen. They were watching a YouTube video. In the video, they could see the camera shaking wildly, and they could make out the blurry image of a theropod-shaped animal.

Connor had discovered the video while surfing the web, and had quickly called over the rest of the team once he realized what the video appeared to be showing.

"What's the title of the video?" Nick Cutter asked, looking up at Connor.

"Living Dinosaur in Colorado", Connor replied. "It was recorded on June 4, 2001, and it was uploaded to YouTube on October 17, 2005."

"Maybe it's just a hoax", Jenny said, looking up at Cutter.

"I doubt it", said Cutter, staring at the screen. "That doesn't look like CGI to me, and I don't think it's an animatronic, either. I highly doubt that two ordinary folks like these would be either financially or intellectually capable of creating an animatronic which looks that realistic."

"So what do you think it means?" Abby asked, looking at Cutter and Stephen.

"You know what it means", Cutter replied. "We all know very well what it means. We've known it ever since we dealt with that Thylacosmilus incursion in Peru."

There was silence. Everyone just stared down at the ground, contemplating what it all meant.

Then Cutter stood up, and began to walk away. "We're going to America", he announced. "I'll go tell Lester."

James Lester was in the cafeteria, eating a sandwich while drinking from a cup of coffee. He heard footsteps. He looked up, and saw Cutter running towards him. Lester was irritated. What could possibly be so important that it would cause him to interrupt my lunch? he thought.

"Lester, we need to talk", Cutter said. He sat down in a chair and turned to face Lester.

"Yes, what is it?" Lester sighed, barely looking up from his meal.

"There is a report of a creature sighting in the United States, and I think we have to go investigate", Cutter replied.

"Creature sightings happen all the time", Lester said. "Probably just some drunks who were having a little too much fun."

"No, this time, it's different", Cutter said. "There is a video of the creature on the Internet, and it clearly shows a living animal."

"OK, fine", Lester conceded. "So what, exactly, are you suggesting? Should we do something, or should we just sit here and relax while sniffing the flowers and watching corny 1980s horror films?"

"No, I really think we should go investigate", Cutter replied. He didn't mind Lester's silly comment. By this point, he had become so accustomed to the sarcastic bureaucrat's witty remarks that they barely fazed him at all.

"If you don't mind, my team will be taking a flight to Colorado, and we'll bring along all of our supplies", said Cutter. "And we _will _be going, no matter what."

"All right, I agree", Lester said. "But, just to be safe, I shall be sending along a team of SAS soldiers to protect you. And I shall contact the Foreign Ministry, as well, to take care of any diplomatic issues which might arise. You shall be leaving at 8:15, tomorrow morning."

Cutter nodded, and walked away. He ran back to the team, and told them that they were going to the United States.

As they walked back home that night, Stephen and Jenny began to walk next to each other.

"So, have you ever been to America before?" Stephen asked her.

"Yes", Jenny said. "I went on a vacation to Florida when I was 8 years old. How about you?"

"Nope", answered Stephen. "Surprisingly, I never have. Hopefully, this trip will end up leaving a good impression on me."


End file.
